Internal combustion engines include valves. The valves may have a valve stem which extends through a spring. The spring is retained by a retainer and keepers that have a detent that fit into a notch or groove in the valve stem. In order to work on or maintain the valve, the keepers may be removed. To remove the keepers, the valve spring is compressed to allow the keepers to be removed from the retainer. With the keepers displaced, the retainer is then removed.
Once the keepers and retainer are removed from the valve stem, the spring may be accessed. When replacing the retainer and the keepers back into the notch or groove of the valve stem, a valve spring retainer installer tool is often used. However, some valve spring retainer installer tools sometimes do not fully seat the valve keepers on the valve stem in the valve retainer. For example, there are some magnetic valve keeper/valve spring retainer tools that, in particular, do not sometimes fully seat the valve keepers on the valve stem and the valve retainer.
Not fully seating the keepers on the valve stem and the valve retainer can have adverse affects. For example, when the engines runs, pressure in the cylinder and/or the valve spring can cause the valves to move out of the engine and be displaced if they are not properly retained. As a result, it may be desirable to provide a method and apparatus that can confirm whether the valve keeper is fully seated on the valve stem and the valve spring retainer.